Steam-boiler.



E. BOELZNER. f

STEAM BOILER.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 22, 1910.

Patented J an. 30, 1912.

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ERNST BOELZNER, or ELMIRA, NEW YORK.

STEAM-BOILER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 30,1912.

Application led July 22, 1910. Serial No. 573,315.

This invention relates to certain improve-v ments in steam boilers, adapted more particularly for lire engine service in which lightness, compactness and rapidity of steaming are important factors, and consti-` tute the main object of the invention.

Another object is to direct the upflow.l water in separate continuous circuits fromi the base of the water leg in tortuous or ser-f pentine paths across the combustion chamber and return to the upper steam chamber' of said water leg so as to produce a multi-5 plicity of independent circulating systems,

each constituting a distinct generator.

A further object is to provide each sepa-5 rate system with a plurality of compara-f tively small upflow conduits, and to terminate such conduits in suitable manifolds which communicate with the base and toprespectively of the water leg and lie whollyI within the combustion chamber so that all of the elements of each system will be enveloped by the products of combustion.

A still further object is to provide for the individual expansion and contraction of the upflow tubes without liability of overst-raining their connections with the manifolds or the connections between the manifolds and water leg.

Another object is toprovide means whereby the conduits off each system may be tightly connected to the manifolds without turning either of such parts.

Another obj ect is to collect the steam from different points of the water leg into a central distributing head directly over the cen-- ter of and within the combustion chamber where it may be entirely enveloped in the products of combustion for superheating the steam before entering the lead to the envine. b Other objects and uses will be brought out in the following description:

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a central vertical sectional view of the boiler, showing two of the separate circulating systems in elevation and the steam distributing head or superheater in section. Fig. 2 is a top plan of the main body of the boiler shown in Fig. 1, omitting the smoke hood or cap. Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the lower and upper manifolds of one of the circulating systems. sectional view of the detached superheater or steam dome.

This boiler comprises a cylindrical double walled water leg 1 inclosing a combustion chamber -2- in which is located a plurality of water and steam circulating systems -3- and a steam distributer dome or superheater -4-` The water leg -1- is composed of outer and inner concentric shells -5and -6-, spaced a uniform distance apart from bottom to top, forming an intervening water chamber which is closed at the bottom and top by suitable spacing rings -8- and -9-, the intervening portions of the shells being tied together at intervals by stay-bolts -10- to hold the shells in fixed relation against undue buckling or collapse of the inner shell.`

The base of the combustion chamber is provided with a suitable grate bottom -11- and fuel inlet 12-, while the upper end iscapped by a suitable hood or smoke flue -13-, which is preferably conical and provided with a suitable outlet.

Each of the separate circulating systems -3- comprises one or more, preferably a plurality of, in this instance, three continuous upflow pipes or tubes -14:-, extending from the base to the top of the combustion chamber and lower and upper manifolds or headers -15- and 16- for receiving the terminal ends of the tubes 14%, the under side of the lower manifold -15- being connected by a conduit .17- to one side of the base of the water leg -1-, while the top side of the upper manifold -16- is connected by a similar conduit -18- to the same side of the upper portion. of the water leg. These manifolds -15-y and -16-, and their conduits -17-. and -18--, are therefore secured in the same vertical plane within the combustion chamber to the same side of the water leg, the conduit -18- being projected some distance into the water leg and provided in its lower side with an opening 19- communicating with the intervening space between the shells .-5- and -6- for diverting the upilow of water or steam into the upper portion of the water leg and completing the circulation through the corresponding circulating system -3-.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged v The upflow pipes or tubes -14- of each circulating system extend back and forth in inclined tortuous or serpentine paths across or from side to side of the combustion chamber from the lower manifold -l5- to the upper manifold lf3- and' are disposed in the same vertical plane with their offset portions nested one within the other, alternate circulating systems being reversely arranged, that is, the manifolds of alternate circulating systems and their connections with the water leg are arranged at opposite sides of the combustion chamber so that the offset portions of the upflow tubes of alternate systems project in opposite directions, and in close proximity to each other, leaving suilicient clearance between the tubes of eachsystem and those of alternate systems for the passage of products of combustion therebetween.

The manifolds -15- and -lG-, and conduits -17- and --18-H are comparatively shallow and may be made of cast iron or other suitable material, while the uptlow tubes 14- may be made of copper or other easily bendable tubing of comparatively small diameter, thereby affording a large heating surface for comparatively small water and steam channels. These manifolds and upflow tubes are entirely enveloped in; the products of combustion so as to produce rapid conversion of the water into steam: with a minimum consumption of fuel.

The several sets of manifolds with their connecting tubes are arranged in parallel planes side by side so as to substantially fill the combustion chamber between the fuel inlet -l2- and steam dome -4-, except for the small intervening spaces between suclr sets and the interior of the water leg. The transverse width of each set is nearly equal to the transverse width of the combustion chamber in the planes in which such sets are located, and therefore the transverse width of the individual sets gradually decrease from the center toward the opposite sides of the boiler. In order that a maximum number of these separate circulating systems may be employed, two of the extreme outer sets at opposite sides of the combustion chamber are shown as provided with two uptiow tubes instead of three as in all other' sets, this reduction in number being necessitated by reason of the fact that the end sets are of considerably less width transversely than the intervening sets.

The nipples or conduits -l7- and 18 by which the manifolds -15- and 16"- are connected to the water leg are adjustable rotarily so as to enter radially the adjacent side of the inner shell -6- of the water leg into which they are screwed.

`One of the important features of this invention is that the upflow tubes of either system may be secured in place or removed independently of the others and without turning or rotation, and for this purpose the terminal ends of each tube are provided with an internally threaded nipple -20- abutting against the upper and lower sides respectively of the manifolds l5- and 16- and registering with corresponding openings in said sides, the threaded nipples -20- heilig engaged by hollow nuts or bushings -Qlwhich are inserted in their respective openings. The inner ends of these openings are enlarged forming shoulders -22- which are engaged by similarly enlarged ends of the nuts -QO- so that as the nuts are tightened their enlarged ends will abut againstthe shoulders Q2- and draw the adjacent ends of the nipples tightly against the corresponding sides of the manifolds. The inner ends of the hollow nuts or bushings 2lare provided with angular' sockets for the reception of a wrench, the opposite sides of the manifolds being provided with threaded openings in vertical alineinent with the nuts 21- for the reception of such wrench by which the nuts may be tightened or loosened to secure or release the tubes. The openings are normally clos-ed by screw plugs or caps Q3- also provided in their outer ends with angular sockets for receiving the same wrench by which they may be removed or replaced when necessary. The tortuous or corrugated structure of the tubes allows them to expand and contract freely under varying temperatures without liability of overstraining or loosening their connections with the manifolds and also permits them to be easily sprung into and out of their operative positions.

The nipples or conduits 1T- and -1S- are connected to their respectiveI headers 15- and 16- by hollow nuts or threaded bushings 21d having wrench sockets similar to the bushings 2lthe opposite sides of the headers being provided with wrench openings in axial alinement with the nuts and normally closed by threaded plugs -QBH similar to the plugs -23-- This permits the manifolds to be attached to or detached fromy its corresponding nipple without turning either of such parts.

lt will now be seen that each set of tubes lll-- and their corresponding manifolds constitutes a distinct and separate heater as well as a separate circulating system each connected to a different part of the water leg. That is, the water from the base of the water leg enters the nipple 17- and passes into the corresponding manifold loand then upwardly back and forth across the combustion chamber through the tubes lltwhere a part of said water is converted into steam and the steam and water circulation then continues through the manistitutes a steam chamber above the water line indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1. This steam is concentrated from the upper portion of the water leg through suitable pipes or conduits Q4- leading radially from the upper end of the inner shell -6- above the manifold #1G- and discharged into a central dome or distributing chamber -4-, which is also located in a plane above the manifolds. This distributing` chamber is provided with an out-let -26- adapted to be connected by a pipe -27- to the throttle valve of an engine not shown. This distributing head lis located in the central upper portion of the combustion chamber and is connected by a plurality of, in this instance, three radial conduits -24- to the upper end of the water leg, said pipes being preferably located an equal distance apart so as to rapidly concentrate the steam into the chamber -4-- where it is superheated to increase its expansive force before passing to the engine.

The pipes -24- are adapted to be connected to the superheater 4rwithout turning either of the parts and for this purpose the upper sides of the conduits -24- are provided with threaded apertures registering with corresponding openings in the under side of the superheater, such openings receiving hollow nuts -25- which are similar to the nuts -21- and screwed into the threaded apertures of the pipe -24-, the upper ends of the nuts being enlarged and provided with angular sockets for receiving a suitable wrench.

rl`he upper side of the superheater 4 is provided with wrench openings in vertical alinement with the nuts -25-- to permit access to the latter, said openings being normally closed by screw plugs or caps 2S- similar to the caps -23-- It will be observed that when the boiler is not in use all of the screw plugs and threaded bushings or nuts are accessible either from the top or underside of the boiler by simply removing the hood or opening the fuel door, and that by removing the plugs -23- and then loosening the corresponding nuts -21- of any one of the sets of manifolds, such set with the tubes -14 connected thereto may be removed or replaced through the open top of the boiler without disconnecting any of the other manifolds. In like manner any one of the tubes -14- may be removed from the corresponding manifolds without displacing the others by simply removing their attaching nuts or bushings -21- after the adjacent plugs 2S- have been removed.

The couplings or nipples -20- are brazed or otherwise rigidly secured to the respective tubes -14 and when the hollow nuts 2lare firmly tightened, the end faces of the nipples are drawn tightly against the adjacent faces of the manifolds 15 and -16- so as to form a tight joint and thereby protect the threads from injury or accumulations from the products of combustion. In like manner when the hollow nuts -21 are tightened the pipes or nipples -17- and 18- are drawn tightly against the adjacent faces of the manifolds to form a tight joint and to protect the threads against such injury or accumulations, the same being also true of the pipes -24 and -27- to protect the threaded connections between said pipes and superheater -4-. The threads of the plugs 23- and -23- and -28- are also similarly protected by shoulders thereon which engage the adjacent faces of the parts into which they are screwed and also to form tight joints. By protecting these threaded parts in the manner just described such parts may be readily disconnected after a long period of use and reconnected without showing any symptoms of deterioration; that is, the threads are protected against corrosion or burning tight and are therefore less liable to strip in screwing and unscrewing the same.

By making all of the angular sockets in the hollow nuts and plugs of the same size and angular, preferably square, the same wrench or square bar can be lused for tightening and loosening all of them.

It will be observed that by making the pipes -3- continuous, all of the parts of the boiler may be readily assembled with a comparatively small number of joints'thereby increasing the permanency of the boiler and facilitating the circulation of water and steam which moves upwardly through a succession of inclines through such tubes.

What I claim is:

A steam boiler including zig-zag upflow pipes arranged in sets and extending transversely of the boiler and nesting one within the other whereby the bends of one set are opposite the spaces between the laterallyprojecting portions of the next adjacent set, superposed headers at opposite sides of and within the boiler, means for connecting opposite ends of certain of said sets to the superposed headers at one side of the boiler, and means for connecting the opposite ends of the other sets to the heads at the other side of the boiler.

In witness whereof 1 have hereunto set my hand this 16th day of July 1910.

ERNST BOELZNER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

